Computers, pc and mac, come with built in audio recording and editing tools which may be all you need to use for whatever it is you are creating for your website or blog site. PC’s have the Windows recording options, Mac’s come with GarageBand, which I personally find perfect for creating audios and podcasts.

But sometimes you want to do a little more with your audio recordings or editing, that you can’t do with the tools you already have. And, unless you are going to be getting into professional products, this handy open source tool should do just what you want.

So rather than rush out and spend a small fortune on specialist audio editing software, why not take the open source route and save yourself some expense.

This Free, Cross-Platform Sound Editor is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Below is a small list of what Audacity can do for you:-

Recording

Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidiscs. With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.

• Record from microphone, line input, or other sources.
• Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings.
• Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware).
• Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording.

Import and Export Audio Files

Import sound files, edit them, and combine them with other files or new recordings. Export your recordings in several common file formats.

• Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files.
• Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files) with libmad.
• Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library. (you may need to download LAME separately)

Editing Your Recordings and Sound Files

• Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
• Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps.
• Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.

Add effects by changing the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa, or remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises. You can alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects, and even adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects.

Other built-in effects include:

• Echo
• Phaser
• Wahwah

and more…

Open Source Download

Audacity is free to use and can be downloaded directly from their site Here

Download the version that is compatible with your computer operating system and simply follow the instructions on the audacity website.

Open it up, and start recording and editing your audio.

Simple!